Creeping Shadows
by Alpine-Dragon-Queen
Summary: Slight AU. Princess Yuffie knows that her stepmother is doing something evil in Wutai but nobody else seems to notice. Now Yuffie must go on a journey with Vincent, a man who saved her in the woods, to find a way to stop her stepmother. Yuffietine
1. The Escapist

A/N: Don't hurt me! *hides* I know I shouldn't be writing ANOTHER story but it just came to me while I was trying to take a nap earlier and just had to write it. *sobs because she knows everyone hates her. Also, M for violence and possible gore, not really sure yet... We'll see...

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Creeping Shadows

Chapter 1: The Escapist.

Icy moonlight slipped in through the window, lighting up the large room with an eerie white glow. Yuffie's eyes slowly shifted from side to side as she laced up the strings on the front of her crop top, she was making sure no one around. The young girl had been trained to be a ninja and now was the time to test out her skills. She had to get out of her father's palace; danger lurked around every corner for the young princess as long as she stayed in that place. Her father had recently remarried to a younger woman, but that woman made Yuffie very uncomfortable. The woman would never let Yuffie go out anywhere; she had to stay in the palace, more specifically, in her room and only her room. She didn't like how the woman always referred to Yuffie as her little nightingale, most likely because of her surprisingly good singing voice, but the name and strange treatment made her feel like a bird in a gilded cage. Yuffie had begun to hear about strange things happening around Wutai from the servants all around the time that the woman had come around though no one seemed to notice. But Yuffie did… People going missing, shrines and churches defiled or stained with evidence of people trying to summon demons and monsters, and then there were the bloody sacrifices of both humans and animals. Just thinking about it made Yuffie sick; these were her people that were being tormented and she had the obligation to set them free. Though first, that meant she had to gain information on her new step-mother and that meant going out into the real world. Yuffie sighed; she had only been out of the palace grounds a few times and knew very little about what the world was like. This scared her a bit but she knew it had to be done, no other person was going to defy the new queen of Wutai, Yuffie was the only one. She was a highly trained ninja; she could do this she just had to put her mind to it! The eighteen-year-old shivered as a freezing zephyr blew in through the window, brushing against her bare legs. She looked down, remembering that all she was wearing down there was a tiny pair of underwear; she was going to have to fix that problem too… She walked over to her dresser and opened the drawer; much to her dismay, its contents consisted of only short-shorts and socks. Cursing this fact, she pulled out a pair of violet ones shorts and pulled them on, leaving the button above the zipper unclasped. She then reached for a pain of white socks; they were clean, silky and up to the middle of her thighs.

"Ok, girl, you can totally do this!" She whispered to herself, trying to force confidence into her brain, it didn't work, "Who am I kidding! I need a miracle if I'm gonna survive this!" She quickly covered her mouth as the words came out too loud, finally sighing where she heard that no one was coming to check on her. She gently reached down and grabbed the back pack at her feet; it was filled with food and bottles of water that she had been hoarding for the past couple days, lock-picks, a lighter, another change of clothes, a tiny Leviathan plushie than her mother had given to her when she was little. Yuffie silently walked over to the door and locked it before tying her favorite headband in her hair and pulling her knee-high sneakers on. She headed for the window; stepping one foot over the sill on to the ledge of the roof, she turned back to her room as icy wind brushed her skin. She grabbed her hoodie off the vanity next to window and now stood fully on the roof. Crisp snow crunched slightly beneath her feet as she tip-toed along the roof, she had to get out of the palace and soon. The midnight sun sent down rays of light that reflected off the snow as she continued to creep along.

'Don't worry, Wutai, I'll save you have the horrid lady…! I just need to get to the woods and then I'm home free to hunt her down!' She thought as she raced silently through the shadows towards her hideout in the deep forest that surrounded the palace ground; she had a weapons stash there just in case something like this ever happened.

~Y*Y~

After about fifteen minutes of shadow dodging, Yuffie was finally at the palace walls that stood between her and freedom. Shivering slightly from the cold; she reached a hand up to the wall and took hold of one jagged bricks then took to another with her other hand, her feet soon found their own holds and she began he assent to the top of the wall. For the most part it was rather easy, but she somewhat out of practice from being locked up for so long, so occasionally her fingers or the toe of shoe would slip and she would have to quickly catch herself before she fall.

"Great job, dad! Put a thirty foot wall around the palace! Why not just put in a lava moat while you're at it!" Her grumbles vented the frustration she had for currently aching and bleeding fingers but she trudged on anyways, this was something she HAD to do. Though, her bravado was quickly fading as a new sheet of pure white snow started to drift from the skies. Yuffie gulped as she finally got to the top and straddled the icy brinks.

"Dang it's cold!" She hugged herself and began to rub her arms as she looked down towards the forest; she had three options; jump and fall thirty feet, use her already achy body to climb down another thirty feet or walk along ice-slicked bricks to a tree somewhat down the path and use it to climb to the forest floor. A loud groan escaped her lips, she hated all those ideas but in the end she hated the tree one the least and she really had to get to her hideout for the snow got any higher. She didn't notice a white bird fly silently through the skies, watching her closely, in the end she would be very grateful that it had.

~~~~A/N: Well? Was it good? Was it bad...? ; ; R&R please...


	2. The Haunted

A/N:second chapter...! *hides*

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 2: The Haunted.

The night air was thick in the forest as the snow fall got heavier. A low growl escaped Vincent's throat as he pulled his scarlet cape closer to his thin body, he really didn't like snow that much. Much like rain, it hindered his ability to hunt and he was so close this time. He had tracking the horrible woman for years, it was her fault that the love of his life had died such a horrible death and that he was the horrid monster that he was now. He scanned the skies for Mirth, his loyal and extremely well trained female barn owl, she was the last present that he had gotten from the object of his affection.

"Mirth, where are you? You're taking too long…" His flat words came out in a low whisper as he began to force his way through the snow again. He was getting uncomfortable with the silence of the woods; it was the home of thousands of creatures of different kinds and his highly sensitive ears should have been able to pick up some sort of sound. The thick snow encased his long legs up to his knees and it was making it rather annoying to walk through. The wind was blowing his long raven hair in several different directions as he tried to figure out why the forest was so quiet; most likely something big was about to happen and he should be ready. He stopped for a second to check his weapons; Death Penalty rested in its holster on his back and Cerberus rested in its own holster at his right thigh and he had plenty of ammunition. Yes, Vincent Valentine was ready for anything that Gaia had planned for him; any enemy that was, Gaia never said _anything _teenage ninja girls on a mission with nothing covering her but skimpy clothing! A shrill shriek filled the sky and pulled him from his thoughts; instinctively, Vincent lifted his arm covered in a golden gauntlet to the sky, allowing Mirth to perch gently on it.

"It's about time to you came back… This forest is testing my nerves, we must continue our search." Mirth shook her slightly heart-shaped head at him before taking back to the skies, letting forth another shriek and raced off in the direction that she had just came from as if beckoning him to follow.

"Mirth, get back here…!" Vincent growled to and began to give chase. He was stopped abruptly as he heard a pack of wolves begin to howl in unison from the same direction and Mirth quickened her pace which in turn made Vincent increase his.

~V*V~

Vincent was shocked at what he saw once he got there; a young girl wearing barely anything was kneeling him in the snow bleeding as a pack of hungry, mutant wolves surrounded her. He saw Mirth fly over to the little human right before the young girls collapsed in the snow, the wolves saw their chance and leapt for her. Thinking fast, Vincent quickly Cerberus from its place and shot a round from each of the three barrels. The first hit a wolf in the head, impaling its skull while the second one wasn't at a very good angle and ended up in a second wolf's shoulder, the third quickly followed and hit the collapsing wolf in the head. Two more wolves were coming but a difficult range even for Cerberus; so within the blink of an eye Cerberus was back in its holster and Death Penalty appeared in his hands, quickly letting off two rounds, each hitting a wolf between the eyes. Vincent had been so wrapped up in keeping the canines off of the girl that he failed to see the one to the side of him; it leapt and sunk its fangs into his right shoulder, its saliva burned acid against his skin, the weight of the wolf dragged him to the forest floor. At the action, Vincent let out a tiny noise that could be guessed at to be a cry of surprise as he lay on the frozen ground, the blood leaking from his shoulder turning the pure white crystals a contrasting crimson. The slight dizziness that had overtaken Vincent only lasted for a second as his eyes began to roll back in his head but he quickly smothered the rapidly growing sensation inside that had caused his eyes to do that then turned his attention back to the wolf. With the dizziness swiftly fading, he suddenly had Cerberus to the wolf's head and released the shot at point blank, causing blood and fur to splatter over Vincent and the already filthy snow. He groaned as he forced his aching body to stand up, quickly grabbing Death Penalty, he rushed over to the girl. He was going to have a long night before him…!

~~~~A/N: uhhhh... It's crud I know! Now I'm gonna go hide under a rock!


	3. First Sighting

A/N: Ok so this is a super long chapter for me, as I usually have really short chapters, hope you guys enjoy it! It took a long time to write and was rather interesting to write at that...

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 3: First Sighting.

Vincent trudged on through the snow carrying Yuffie's limp and shivering body. He was beginning to wonder how he had got into this mess as he headed towards the cave was that Mirth and his temporary home. The wound in his shoulder still burned and for some reason his advanced healing was not taking care of the problem, he was going to have to take care of it the normal way. As it was, Vincent was having more problems to day than most; aside from the shivering girl in his arms, his arm hurting and his hair matting with wolf blood, Vincent could feel the change eating away at his control in the back of his head. He didn't have much time before it fully took over once again. Mirth silently flew next to him, brushing the soft tip of her wing against his cheek as if to comfort him, she knew what was going on in his head. She let forth a shrill cry and Vincent heaved a heavy sigh as they saw the entrance to cave appear.

'So, close… I just have to hold on a few minutes more….' Vincent told himself as he forced his feet into the cave and walked over to one of the walls; he laid Yuffie on the ground then wrapped her in his cape to keep her warm.

"Mirth, keep an eye on her, okay?" The little owl blinked at him as he dragged his tired body to the other end of the cave where he had set up a tiny room for himself hidden behind a curtain.

"My body simply feels the need to change; I'll shift into the one with the best self control since my body isn't being picky today…" His weary voice came out in a whisper as he began to slowly strip off his clothes, not wanting them to be ripped during his transformation, and dropping them into a pile on the floor.

Mirth gave a low chirr as fluttered down next to Yuffie and stood there, shifting her head in Vincent's direction as she heard a howl escape from behind the curtain.

~V*Y~

About a hour after Vincent's transformation, Yuffie started to stir.

"Oh, my head! What happened!" She groaned as she used her arm to prop her up onto her hip, eyes slowly sliding open as she felt the thing that was draped over her body roll off her shoulders. She was shocked to see that she was lying in a cave, safe from the snow and wolves that had been around her when she passed out.

"What's going on…? Where am I…?" She looked down at the scarlet cape that was draped over her body, "What in the world! Who does this belong too…?" A cold breeze came in through the opening of the cave, causing her to draw the cape closely around herself she was.

"This thing smells really good…" She whispered as she placed it up over her nose as she stood up on wobbly legs, instinctively she placed a hand to her arm that had been bleeding before. She found it very strange that it was clean of any blood and had a thin layer of sticky translucent liquid over the length of the wound.

"Now that's totally weird," she took her hand and decided to look around the semi large cave; she had to find her stuff. The cave was barely lit by a tiny candle, hidden from the wind, standing to the side of the cave near her. Slowly walking over and grabbing the candle, she walked further into the cave; there was a few supplies lying around but really caught her attention was the curtain in the back of the cave. Yuffie silently stalked over to it and gently pulled it open; she was disappointed to see that no one was behind it, but she notice a pile of clothes and a pair of boots lying next to a bed made of pine needles and leaves.

"This is way too weird, I should leave I still got to get to mu hide out!" She turned back to the opening of the cave, she was about to leave, "But it is really cold out there and I want to thank the person who saved me"

**_"You mean you want to see what they look like…"_** Her brain told her.

"Well yeah, that too, but… Hey wait! You're me why am I talking to you!"

**_"Because you have no one else to talk to, I'm the best you got, girl!"_**

"Ouch, good call! But what should I do? What if this person is scary, I don't want to startle them by being awake or hidden…."

**_"Then hide in plain sight!"_**

"Huh, what do you mean?"

**_"If I'm you then how can you be so stupid! Who ever brought you here probably thinks you're still asleep, so hide under the cape and pretend you are, if they seem safe, then come out and greet them!"_**

"Oh, I get it now! Thanks!"

**_"Whatever, they'll probably be coming back soon so get ready!"_**

"Gotcha!" Yuffie finally responded to her self and when back to her place on the floor.

~Y*V~

It was about fifteen minutes later that Yuffie finally head someone come. Peeking out from under the cape, Yuffie was a large black wolf walk slowly into the cave and it took everything she had not to scream when it walked past her. Though, there were some odd things about the situation; the wolf wasn't hesitant about entering the human establishment, it had crimson colored eyes, there was a barn owl flying next to it and the first half of its left foreleg was made completely out of a golden metal.

_'What is that thing!'_ She watched it slowly walk over the curtain in the back, slid it about a third of the way open and stepped inside while the little owl perched on a piece of rock next to the curtain. Yuffie let out the slightest of gasps at what she saw next; the wolf let out a howl of pain as its muscles and bones started to contract and shudder under its skin! Its limbs and toes started to lengthen out as its fur was pulled back into its body, the face started to flatten out into more of a human shape as the fur on its head grew longer and more silk like. With a few moments the transformation finished; a man was kneeling there on all fours, his head down with long raven hair spilling over his face and pale shoulders. Yuffie blushed deeply and looked in awe at the incredibly beautiful and pale man that was before her eyes, incredibly grateful that the curtain covered him from the hips down. She just couldn't pull her eyes away from him; his lovely white skin glistened with the sweat of his transformation as his heavy panting made well toned muscles ripple. He finally brought his head up, revealing his gorgeous face as he reached out a hand to grab the black clothing that was still lying in a pile. Yuffie quickly closed her eyes and let the crimson cape completely encase her, she found herself panting as her cheeks burned.

'Oh, Leviathan! That's who saved me? He's so beautiful and hot! Wait…! What! Oh my gawd! What is wrong with me?'

**_"That would be your virgin libido kickin' in, girl!"_**

'My what? What are you talkin' about!' She mentally screamed at her inner self, whom she had nicknamed, Tsukiko.

**_"Girl, I'm talkin' about sex drive here…" _**Yuffie blushed as Tsukiko kept talking**_, "You just saw a super hot guy, in more ways than one, naked and only just barely covered by a curtain. It's got some things in our head working, seeing as we never got out much and only ever had female servants, this is a very new and nerve racking experience for us. That's just the way the human body works. We're eighteen and have never seen this much of a man so there fore it's driving us a little insane. Just relax; it should pass soon or…"_**

'Or what?'

**_"Or, we'll totally loose our cool to our libido and jump the poor guy for no reason…! No worries, I totally got this! Just keep calm!"_**

'Oh Leviathan, I can't believe I'm having this conversation with my inner sel-!' Her mental conversation was stopped abruptly at the sound of zippers and buckles.

"Mirth, she should try and wake that girl up… We need to see to those wounds, I'm not sure if my wolf form has taken care of it properly…" Yuffie let out a silent gasp, this man's dark and brooding voice sounded like liquid silk. She and Tsukiko were quickly losing the battle!

~~~~A/N: Lol! Poor Yuffie! I just had to give her Tsukiko so that she would have someone nice to talk to since I don't have Tifa or Aerith here in the story so far and might not ever have them...


	4. Introductions

A/N: Special Thanks list! Yayz!

DragonProtecter: A very nice supporter of not only this story but my little string of Yuffietine drabbles! Yays! Thank you!

ten'oio mela

singerprissy

Two new readers that have been very nice and supporting! Thank you! ^^ This is the first time I've gotten so many comments, faves and alerts on a story in just two days of it starting! Thank you, you three! Also, if anyone has any suggestions for this story or the drabbles, don't be afraid to speak up in a comment or PM, and once again thank you! Until next time. ^^

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 4: Introductions.

Vincent looked at Mirth and pointed at the girl supposedly sleeping under his cape, silently commanding her to go check on the girl. The barn owl simply shook its head at him and also pointed at the girl, the little owl had sensed something coming off of Yuffie that little animal knew to be the body's instinctual attraction the opposite gender. Mirth had been experimented on so she could comprehend some of how the human mind worked; so she mixed Vincent's command with her animalistic knowledge that when there is attraction there should be interaction, but her brain still didn't comprehend how human attraction worked and that was the only flaw in her plan. Vincent didn't know what was going through her head but he did realize that she wasn't going to leave her perch so he was going to have to do it himself. He was well aware that many people who saw him through his travels as a monster with the complexion he had and he really hadn't wanted to scare the girl first thing upon waking her up. Giving a sigh, he began to walk over to her.

~V*Y~

**_"Head's up, girl, here he comes!"_**

'Oh Leviathan!' Yuffie heard the footsteps stop next to her suddenly the cape was slowly ripped off of her, the sudden cold made her shut her and took a few moments to look up that the man. She really wished she hadn't his blood red eyes seemed to draw her in and she couldn't look away. The man was kneeling next to her and had a very blank expression on his face.

"Miss, are you alright….?" Yuffie couldn't pull her eyes away from his long enough to form an actual sentence.

"Talk, dang it! He's gonna think there's something wrong with you mentally and I'm not getting blamed for that!"

"Huh! Oh, uh… Yeah, I'm fin! … Er I mean fine! Hehe!" Yuffie stammered and giggled nervously, Vincent gave the slightest hint of a quizzical look and Mirth chirred with, well mirth, at the chemistry she could jest smell happening between them. The evil little barn owl matchmaker had this all worked out, she just had to keep the two together.

"Your arm was damaged yesterday, is it feeling alright..?" Yuffie looked down at the arm in question and nodded.

"Good, that is all I needed to know. You may use this blanket while you stay in this cave until the storm is over but I required my cape back, I must be leaving."

**_"Oooh! No wonder that thing smelled so good! Do NOT let him leave, girl!"_**

'Why?'

**_"I'll tell you later."_**

'Sigh… ok…'

"Why are you going out in that snow storm? It's dangerous! You could be hurt!" Vincent shook his head at her words.

"No, I will be fine. My body can resist such thing… Now, please, I need my cape…"

"Oh, sorry…" Yuffie slowly handed him the cape as he draped the thin yet warm blanket over her shoulders, the movement of his as he did the act sent a shiver through her. Mirth saw where this was going; Vincent was going to leave and totally ruin her plans! She knew that it was breed into human females to take care of hurt males that they were attracted to and there was one physical place that Vincent's healing abilities weren't working on: the shoulder than had been bitten, and the bacteria could make him very sick. She quickly flapped to the air and landed on his wounded shoulder before he could put his cape on, that shoulder was currently rather stiff and slow. Vincent winced and let out a grunt of pain at the unsuspected pressure on his neglected wound, causing Yuffie to quickly look to the source of his pain and saw the teeth marks in his shirt.

**_"Ooooh! He's hurt! Now's our chance to show off those fancy First Aid skills mom taught us before she died and maybe get to know this guy! Shehehe….!"_**

'Tsukiko, are you insane! This guy's kinda scary, he turned into a wolf!'

**_"So? He helped you didn't he? I'm sure he's a good guy; plus he took care of us, we should return the favor!"_** Yuffie didn't know what Tsukiko was getting at but she went along with it.

"You're hurt; let me see, my mother taught me First Aid before she died."

"That's not neces-" His words were cut off by Mirth biting his ear and glaring at him, as if she was demanding that he obeyed the girl, Vincent complied and sighed.

"Fine, I will allow you to treat me…" Mirth chirred at his response and went to get the supplies, "She will be back in a moment with the things you need."

**_"Great! Now get him to take off his shirt!"_**

'What? What for!'

**_"To be able to work on the wound, duh!"_**

'Oh…'

**_"And to get a look at that super hot body again!"_**

'Dang it, Tsukiko!'

**_"Shahaha!"_** Yuffie gulped as she hesitantly raised a hand towards his shoulder.

"Um… Sorry, but could you… uh… T-take your s-shirt of-f a bit s-so I can see the w-wound…?" Vincent didn't respond but he slowly moved his arm up and to his chest to unbutton his shirt, letting the left side of slide far enough down for her to be able to treat the wound. Yuffie let in a silent gasp as the sight of his firm, pale torso; she could just feel Tsukiko fainting from hotness overload in the back of her head. It took a minute, but she was finally able to pull her eyes away from his body and look over to the owl that at last got back with the stuff.

"Thank you." She said politely to the owl and was shocked when the owl nodded back before fly over to Vincent's good shoulder. Yuffie busied herself with getting some disinfectant and putting it on a piece of cloth to clean the wound with, this was not going to be easy on her nerves. Sighing, she lifted the damp cloth and gently dabbed the bite marks with it. She knew it burned but for some reason he wasn't showing any emotion towards it, he simply looked past her to the cave wall.

"S-so, w-what's your name…?" She asked slowly after clearing her throat from nervousness. Vincent shot a glance to Mirth whose dark eyes gave him a look that seemed to say "she's really nervous, talk to her!".

"I go by the name Vincent Valentine…."

**_"Oohh man! Our body's reacting just to the sound of it! Valentine…. Mmmm"_** Yuffie mentally rolled her eyes at her inner self who had seemed to revive herself.

'Oh, shut up! I hate you so much right now!'

"O-oh.. That's a really nice name…" She with a soft smile after her little mental argument, blushing a bit at what Tsukiko said, "My name's Yuffie Kisaragi, nice to meet you…"

"Thank you…" Mirth gave him a look, "Your name is rather beautiful… Kisaragi… It also sounds familiar somehow…." Yuffie choked on her own saliva, how was she going to tell him that she was the princess of Wutai and had run away from home? He would totally send her back and she just couldn't let that happen!

"I-I don't know… My father distributes lots of stuff throughout the world maybe that's how…" Her voice just trained off as her heart pounded in her chest.

"Hnnn…." She heard his reply then suddenly let in a sharp gasp as her hand brushed his skin while applying the bandage; his skin was soft, smooth and slightly cold but still hot enough to feel good to her.

**_"Mmm, that's so soft, girl! Feels nice doesn't it?"_**

'Shut it, Tsukiko!'

**_"Why, am I makin' ya feel weird?"_**

'Extremely!'

**_"Oh, fine. I'll keep quiet, for now…"_**

"Is something wrong, Miss Kisaragi…?" Crud, he had heard her gasp!

"N-no..! I just moved my arm weird and it hurt a tiny bit." Oh Yuffie, where had your ninja lying skills run off to know! Then the dreaded question slipped from Vincent's beautiful pale lips.

"So, what ever could the reason be for a young girl like yourself be all the way out here in the snow wearing nothing but shorts and a small shirt…?" Yuffie was pretty sure she died at the words.

~~~~A/N: Well, there you go. One very awkward chat between a man and a young woman. Also, I'm beginning to think that maybe Mirth and Tsukiko have like a mental link with the way those two think!


	5. explanations

A/N: Yayz! Thank you everyone whose been reading this and supporting this story!

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 5: explanations.

Yuffie actually had passed out from the fear of having to tell him that she had run array from home. She had been falling backwards and Vincent caught her before she hit her head on the stone, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Yuffie, wake up…" He was shaking her gently, making the princess slowly come to.

"Ugh… My head… What happened…?" It was at this point that she opened her eyes and saw that Vincent was holding. A blush clawed its way to her cheeks as she could Tsukiko talk dreamily.

**_"Oh, Leviathan! So strong! It feels so good be held…!"_** Yuffie's breath hitched slightly as for once she was forced to agree with Tsukiko, oddly she felt so incredibly safe in the scary man's arms. Noticing that she was awake, Vincent sat her back down on her rump, much to her dismay. Subconsciously, she had found herself wanting to stay in his arms, maybe crawl into his lap where it was night and warm.

"Yuffie… Are you alright…" The flat words came out slowly as he looked directly into her lavender eyes with his bloody looking ones. Yuffie swallowed slowly and nervously as she tried to look away but his eyes were too mesmerizing. She was so glad when he finally blinked and looked away.

"Now that you are…. Will you answer my question…?" Yuffie groaned as she remembered.

"Ugh…. Fine, but you have to promise you won't make me go back… okay?" Vincent gave her a quizzical look but nodded.

"Okay… Here goes…. " She gulped as she watched Vincent slip his shirt over his shoulder again, she found herself oddly saddened at this but continued anyway, "I ran away from home… I'm actually the princess of Wutai, but some bad things are going on there that no one notices and if they do they are ignoring it." She was inwardly shocked to see that Vincent's face was devoid of all emotion even after she just confessed the truth, but she shrugged it off.

"Yuffie… What were these strange things…?" Yuffie was surprised that he was actually interested.

"Uh… Well you see… After my dad married my stepmom mayhem started in Wutai; people dying or going missing suddenly, violated shrines and churches with summoning evidence and sacrifices! Oh, my gosh… I heard about once, they said that there was both pieces of human and animal sitting in a bowl of blood with creepy writing around it…!" She shut her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering at the memory; one of the servants had shown her a picture. Vincent simply looked at Yuffie; he was shocked but his face didn't show it, he looked over at Mirth and she gave him another demanding look. The man sighed and put a hand on the young girl's shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"Yuffie… Have you ever seen any of these things…?"

"Not really, because my stepmom never let me out of the house and almost never let me out of my room…" She looked up slowly at him, oddly finding safety in his eerie pools of crimson, "But one of the servants showed me a picture one day…"

"And you think this is all caused by your step mother…?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you have a picture of your stepmother and if so, may I see it…?"

"Sure… Here..." She reached into her backpack and pulled out her wallet; from within it she withdrew a picture folded just to show Yuffie and her father, but now she unfolded it, making her horrid stepmother appear. Yuffie looked up at Vincent and for the first time in the past hour or two that she had known him; his true feelings were not hidden by his blank mask of a face and she saw all his emotions shown plainly on his face. She gulped at what she saw as he looked at her stepmother: anger, pain, fear, hatred, sorrow.

"V-vinc-cent…? A-are you ok…?" Yuffie slowly reached out her hand as her worried words left her little pink lips. Mirth's eyes grew wider at this; she knew that the most likely side effect of the little girl touching him, while he was in this state of shock, would be him severely hurting her. The barn owl puffed out her breast feathers then reached out her neck to snap at the young girl's hand, she felt bad but she knew it had to be done. Yuffie quickly drew back her hand, at first angry at the owl then she saw it rubbing its soft head against Vincent's pale cheek, trying to comfort him, the girl realized that something bad might have happened if she had touched the man and that the owl was just trying to protect her.

**_"Wow, this guy looks totally shaken up at seeing Grathia… I wonder if he's met her…?"_** Yuffie could only nod slowly at Tsukiko's words as she watched the man in front of her slowly started to come back to reality and she repeated her question.

"Vincent, are you ok?" The man slowly looked up from the picture to Yuffie's face, it had a look a concern and longing to help but unable too, it was a rare and beautiful look that he had only ever seen one woman before; Lucrecia. Yuffie was shocked as Vincent's golden suddenly cupped her chin gently and began to pull her to him.

**_"What in Leviathan's name is going on!" _**

'Not sure!'

"Lucrecia….." The soft whisper barely got released into the air before Vincent's glazed eyes were closed and he pressed his lips to Yuffie's in a passionate kiss, the kind only given when someone loved has been missing for a long time and had only recently reappeared. Yuffie's eyes flew wide as her cheeks took on the same color of his cape.

**_"HOLY LEVIATHAN!"_** Tsukiko's rang in the girl's ears as all she could do was submit to Vincent's passionate and longing kiss. Yuffie's face got redder, if that could ever be possible, as she felt his human hand slid under her blanket and gently began to pull and press her to his body. Mirth was well away that this is what she wanted but something was wrong, she had to stop this before he went too far and did something that he would regret. Yuffie was sure she was about to melt from the heat and silkiness of Vincent's lips, her backbone suddenly went rigid as she felt his hand, which was somehow bare now, slip under her shirt and trail up her spine with his short nails. Somewhere in her head, Tsukiko was beyond passed out and she herself felt faint from his touch when suddenly she was brought back to reality by Mirth's loud shriek then the sound of her beak clacking together as she bit Vincent's ear. The man's eyes shot open as he just realized what he been doing! He looked down in horror at Yuffie, who was gaping once he pulled his lips from hers. He quickly yet gently held her at arm's length as it would seem her spine had become to resemble a limp noodle. Shock and horror made his voice shaky as he tried to apologize to the gawking young ninja.

"Y-yuffie… I-I so s-sorry….!"

~~~~A/N: Okaaaaay... Awkward...! First things first, this chapter was so NOT supposed to go like it did, it just kinda came that way though! If it was too fast I am so sorry once again! *hides* please don't hurt me!


	6. Fair Trade

A/N: Tada! Despite the fact that I have a major World history and geography final due tomorrow and it's not finished yet, I managed to get this out for you guys! Sorry to keep you waiting.

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 6: Fair Trade.

Instincts to get away from the girl took over; he laid her gently against the stone wall then quickly stood up and headed for the cave opening, leaving the girl in her swampy daze. Mirth took off after him, confronting him once he stood bathing in the icy moonlight.

_"Vincent! Stop right there!" _Vincent stopped as he saw the angry barn owl's heart-shaped face puffed out only inches from his, Mirth's angry telepathic voice rang loudly in his head.

"What do you want, Mirth…?" Vincent's voice came out in a low aggravated growl; all he wanted to do was get away from that poor girl as fast he could.

_"Just what do you think you're doing? You owe that poor girl an explanation for what you just did! Odds are you just stole her first kiss, that is very important to a young girl!"_ Vincent was about to open his mouth but she hissed at him and continued, _"That girl is now legally related to Grathia and knows that she is up to something! We've been looking for that witch for almost thirty years; this girl is your only lead to the woman who killed my mistress and the woman you loved!"_ Vincent snorted and looked away.

"I can't involve her… It is dangerous for her to be around me, in more ways than one…"

_"Like what?"_

"Not only could my other forms cause her a kind of physical harm but another type as well along with psychological damage…" He shut his eyes in degust of himself as he thought about what he did, "Did you not see what I did? My bare hand was up that young girl's shirt, a child that's innocence has never been defiled by human hands, and I was stroking her like she belonged to me… I almost did something terrible to her…" His hands clenched into fists just at the idea that he would do such a thing.

_"All the more reason that you owe her an explanation! Fair trade…!"_ Vincent looked up at the glaring barn owl, _"Vincent, a side from me, she is the only person who has even remotely wanted to talk and spend time with you. Despite what you might think, you need human contact, someone to talk to."_

"Why, I have you don't I…?"

_"Barely, I am only allowed to open up a telepathic link with you when the moon is full and you are standing in the moonlight! Humans need other humans, and this is the only one that has actually said more than two sentences to you in all those lonely years!"_

"I can't let her get too close… I could severely hurt her… Plus, she would only run away in fear if she were to ever find out what a monster I really am and what I can turn into…" Mirth let out a little chirr of glee.

_"Vincent, she already knows what you can become."_ Vincent's eyes grew a little wider as Mirth gave a sly little wink of her dark eye, _"She was a awake under your cape when we came in and was watching you as you transformed, but don't worry, I made sure the curtain stopped her from seeing your reproductive properties, I know how you humans are very particular about that for some reason…"_ Vincent was shocked at this discovery; the girl, Yuffie, had not only talked to him after seeing him change but she had also willing offered to clean and bandage his wound. The fact that she had practically naked didn't even seem to register in his brain...

"V-vincent… Are you ok..?" Vincent swallowed hard at the timid voice, it was Yuffie's. He slowly turned around to face her; he could see the slight blush still on her pale cheeks as she fiddled with the corner of the blanket that was draped across her shoulders.

"Yes, Yuffie, I am ok… I am sorry for what I have done and I owe you an apology and an explaination…"

~V*Y~

Yuffie watched as Mirth nudged Vincent out of the snow and back in to the cave. Her heart was beating faster with each step that he took towards her; she could feel the tingle of his nails still trailing up her spine, her legs felt like jelly just thinking about his hand under her shirt.

**_"Ughh… My figurative head… What happened? I can't remember a thing… C'mon girl, spill it…!"_**

_'…'_

**_"What? What is it?"_**

_'Check our memories and see, I think Vincent wants to talk to me…'_ Yuffie mentally responded to Tsukiko as she began to walk over and sit near Vincent, who made sure to keep distance between them.

**_"Oh my Leviathan! Not only did he steal our first kiss but he stuck his hand up our shirt? No wonder you're feelin' hot in places we've never felt that hot before!"_**

_'Shut up, you're making us blush again! Just keep quiet, he's about to tell us something…'_ She looked into Vincent's eyes but he quickly broke the eye contact and sigh.

"Yuffie, I am very sorry for what I have done… As you probably know by know, I am not normal or at least, not anymore…" He looked down at his flexing claw as Yuffie shifted in slight silent discomfort, "Many years ago, thirty to be exact, I became the body guard for a scientist named Lucrecia. Though, one day I fell in love with her and soon after, she fell for me; the problem with this was that she was married… We kept our love a secret from her husband, who was also a scientist…"

"I-I that w-why you called me Lucrecia…?" Vincent stalled at the question, beginning to feel very uncomfortable with telling the girl all of this but Mirth nudged him to continue so he simply nodded in reply.

"Yes. Once again I am very sorry, you just reminded me of her so much and my inhibitions seemed to have melted away…" He cleared his throat, "But, back to my story… One day while Lucrecia's husband was off talking to the scientist in charge of the lab, Lucrecia showed me some of the experiments they were working on… A plan to turn normal military soldiers in to heartless killing machines by mixing their genes with those off extremely powerful beasts; one problem was that they could never find anyone to test it on. I was horrified by this revelation but so was Lucrecia; in order to try and make her feel better, I pulled her into a passionate kiss but at the exact minute that Lucrecia began to kiss me back, he husband and the lead scientist walked in…" Yuffie listened in horrified awe at his story.

**_"Holy Crud! That's horrible!"_**

_'Shh…!'_

"Her husband was incredibly angry; he growled and cursed at us as we quickly pulled apart, it was at that point that I saw the smirking head scientist for the first time. It was your stepmother, Grathia Voltula." Yuffie's eyes flew open as soon as the words left his slightly quivering lips but she couldn't muster up her voice to say a thing, "With but a snap of her fingers; several guards suddenly appeared, capturing Lucrecia and myself. Grathia slowly sashayed over to us a syringe in hand, saying that she finally had some human subjects as she injected the clear liquid into my spine. When I awoke, the lab was destroyed; blood was on my hands and in my mouth…" He swallowed hard.

"But my hands weren't hands per say, they were more like claws than hands. I looked around with blurry eyes then when I finally looked down I saw it: Lucrecia's body lay at my feet, next to her husband, her still form covered in jagged claw marks and I realized that it was her blood in my mouth and drenching my claws." A lump started to form in the back of his throat but he forced it down and continued on, "That would be when I heard it; the sound of malevolent laughter filled my sensitive ears and I looked for its owner, only to see Grathia as happy as a person ever could be. I was too stunned to move but she spoke to me anyways; she told me how happy she was that her beast soldier experiment was a success, this was right before she ran off, yelling back to me that she would have to continue it else where fore I had destroyed her lab. I vowed; that from that day forward, I would hunt her down and make her compensate for the innocent lives she had me take that day…" Vincent wouldn't look into Yuffie's eyes; he simply looked down into his lap, his raven colored hair falling over his face. Yuffie's eyes filled with tears as she looked on in horror at the broken man before her.

**_"Oh Leviathan! That was horrible! Wha.. Wait..! What are you doin', girl!"_** The young girl could hear her inner self scream at her but Yuffie's body seemed to work without their consent and threw itself forward. Wrapping her arms around a stunned Vincent's neck and nuzzled her nose into his throat.

"Oh, Vincent! I'm so sorry, what a horrible thing to happen to a person!"

~~~~A/N: Okay, was that an okay explanation chapter? I hope everyone liked it and that hopefully it actually explained somethings... Personally I think it was TERRIBLE! But that's just me...

On another note: I had this idea pop into my head last night so I wrote it out. *blagh* I such a horrible person for working on another story... .* Sorry... It's another AU Yuffietine story and it's based on one of my drabbles called "Please Don't Leave Me!". Would anyone here be interested in reading it if I were to up loud it? Please R&R... But only if you really want to...


	7. Partners

A/N: Sorry, just a short little chapter for now... Also... I FINALLY GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL ON THURSDAY!

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 7: Partners.

After about two minutes, Yuffie anger overthrew her sorrow and she bolted to her feet.

"Hah! I knew that woman is evil!" She turned to her side and pointed down at a very shocked Vincent, "Vinnie, ol' pal! We're gonna do it!" Vincent's eyebrow rose slightly as he looked up at the girl, he was very confused her meaning…

"Excuse me…?"

"We're gonna over throw my stepmom, save my country and avenge your honor!" A confident smirk took over her face as she slammed her fists onto her hips and stomped her foot, "From this day forward, it doesn't matter what you or I, we're in this together and we're gonna bring her down!" Vincent slowly climbed to his feet as he stared in amazement at this young girl; all her fear confusion and uncertainty in an air aura of bravado. Mirth screeched in agreement and flew over to fly around Yuffie as the girl fixed her blanket in to a cloak.

"…Just how do you propose we do this…?"

"Vins, I'm glad you ask that!"

'Since when did we become so close that she is already into creation process of nicknames for me…?'

"First off, partner, my need to stop off at my little hideout. I have things there that I have gathered over the years that are all about Wutai. I got history, maps, blueprints, the works! From there we need info on that rancid female dog!"

"Aye, if Grathia still looks the same after all these years then she must have done something to herself as well… We should gather information around Wutai surrounding her, her old company and what things have befallen your country once she had arrived."

"It ain't gonna be easy…! Nobodies gonna wanna give up info on my stepmom, though…"

"I'm sure we can find awa-!"

"We'll break into the catacombs of the old library! It's perfect!" Vincent was very surprised by the words in her outburst but he had to agree that it might be the only way.

"Vince, back up what eva stuff you have and let's head to my secret base; you can keep your things there while we dig up some dirt of ol' Grathia!" Yuffie had a such a look of determination on her face that it cause something to figuratively shift in Vincent's heart; he didn't know it yet but this young girl was going to become a very large part of his life and recovery.

~V*Y~

Yuffie swiftly leaped through the tree branches with Vincent silently following behind her.

**_"Are you sure you want to do this?"_**

'Duh! Anything to stop that witch!'

**_"But Vincent could be super dangerous!"_**

'I don't care! He's nice to me and that's all that matters, who cares if he's dangerous or not!"

**_"I care! He could hurt us!"_**

'Oh, shut up and jump!'

~~~~A/N: Hey, guys. I drew a weird little picture of Vincent and Yuffie a few nights ago. If you would like to see it, it's on my Deviant Art account, there's a link in my profile on here. There's also a practice picture of Yuffie on there with three different outfits I made up for her.

A/N 2: My other AU Yuffietine story is up on here if you would like to read it. It's called The Lady and the Lachrymose. Tata for now!


	8. Planning

A/N: *tears up* I am SOOOOO sorry everyone! It's just a super short update to pretty much give you an author's note and here it is. I am sorry that I haven't updated for a bit, but I have very bad writer's block right now and I will be leaving for Disneyland as my graduation preasent from my aunt and I have to ready for that. But I will try to work on my stories while I'm on my trip, please find it in your hearts to forgive me for doing this to you. ; ;

I don't own anything that people have ever seen in FF VII~~~~~~

Chapter 8: Planning.

Vincent looked curiously at the girl as she smirked and slammed a palm down the map that was lying on the small wooden table in Yuffie's hideout.

"Alright, Vince, here is a map of Wutai. With this we can make up our plan of action of how we're going to pick up info from around the place." She smirked up at him and placed the tip of her left pointer finger on a small port city.

"This is where the first attack hit; it was an attack on a temple and demonic sacrifice."

"Then that should be our first target. Have you readied your things?"

"Yup, packed and ready to go!"


End file.
